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Oct. 12, 2007

Final Stats

Cedar Falls, Iowa - Ashten Stelken (Manchester, Iowa) had a match-high 16 kills to lead the University of Northern Iowa volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of Southern Illinois tonight at the McLeod Center. Game scores were 30-15, 30-22 and 30-22.

Stelken, who hit .452 (16-2-31) for the match, was joined in double-digit kills by Danielle Brazda (Omaha, Neb.) and Laura Rowen (Hansell, Iowa) who each had 10 kills. Rowen recorded her 10th double-double of the season by racking up 14 digs. Amy Sampson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) had eight kills and hit .368 (8-1-19). The Panthers hit .267 as a team, while holding the Salukis to .042 hitting. UNI also had more team blocks (9-6) and digs (58-49) than SIU.

After Southern Illinois scored the first point of the match, the first game was all Panthers. UNI ran off the next five points, and opened leads of 9-3, 14-5 and 16-8 en route to a 30-15 win. Stelken had six kills in the opening game, and UNI hit .343 (16-4-35), while holding SIU to -.128 hitting (5-10-39).

UNI held a slight lead for the first half of game two, until SIU rattled off three straight points to take a 14-13 edge. The Panthers responded by scoring four straight points to go up 17-14, with kills from Sampson and setter Kristin Belzung (Ankeny, Iowa) helping the cause. UNI held a 20-18 advantage before going on a decisive 5-1 run to effectively put the game away, and eventually posted a 30-22 win.

Southern Illinois scored the first three points of game three, two on service aces, and held a 5-1 lead before UNI got going. Trailing by four, the Panthers rattled off nine straight points - including three kills from Rowen - to open a 10-5 lead. SIU battled back to pull within one, 12-11, but UNI stemmed the tide by scoring eight of the next nine to go up 20-12. The Salukis didn't get closer than six points the rest of the way as the Panthers took a 30-22 win and the match victory

With the victory, UNI improves to 11-9 overall and 5-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while Southern Illinois falls to 11-9, 3-5 in the Valley. The Panthers host Evansville tomorrow night at 7:30 pm.